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SSgt Baloo

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Everything posted by SSgt Baloo

  1. Several people have remarked that between 2 and 5 degrees of incidence in the main wing is helpful. Due to nerve damage, my hands are uncalibrated (and just a bit shaky). How do you get exactly 5 degrees of incidence, anyway?
  2. I think part of the problem is that I'm using a propeller engine that produces only about 5 KN of thrust. That means light construction is of the utmost importance. I did manage to build a small plane that flies relatively well, though without any claim to greatness except that I managed to keep it's weight down to just over 1.7 tons at launch. Its unstick speed is about 31.[fraction]. Here's an image of it as its wheels leave the runway. The speed shown is about 70 MPH. Because of the leisurely rate of acceleration, this thing isn't really STOL, but at least it's stable enough that when I touch it down again, I can apply the brakes hard (intermittently, at first, to avoid nosing over), so stopping in a hurry isn't a problem. I suppose I should pick another engine with a bit more thrust, if I want this thing to leap off the ground. Although someone suggested flaps, I suspect they are only a help when you have enough thrust to become airborne even while they are deployed. The current powerplant is not powerful enough to do that. The "Merlin" from the same parts pack may have enough thrust to make that a possibility. It has a whole *gasp!* twenty kilonewtons of thrust. More images of The Feeble Beast here: http://s28.photobucket.com/user/SSgtBaloo/slideshow/7SEP2016
  3. I've got a lot of mods full of aircraft parts, and I love building airplanes, but my attempts to build planes that get up off the runway at low airspeeds* have been hit-or-miss, with the emphasis on miss. I can build lightly, after a fashion, and I've tried using more wing, with some success (see example, below), but most of the really promising birds I've built to fly slowly, end up also accelerating slowly and sinking into the sea after departing the end of the runway, when they don't swerve off the runway and crash. This one flies well, but it's, well, huge! Same plane, different angle: * and continue to fly without crashing, an important caveat.
  4. My experience has been very different than yours, then. Most of the problems I had with mods came before I learned to use CKAN. YMMV.
  5. I sometimes place a shallow "vee" of small fins at the back of the radial booster, and (as others have said) the decoupler as high on the radial booster as possible, with the back of the booster low enough to assure (probable) clean separation. When the decoupler kicks the nose away from the core booster, the fins help swing it away from it, and the added drag helps the spent boosters fall behind before they can collide with anything else.* * After much practice. Sandbox mode is a great teaching tool. YMMV.
  6. I was playing around, trying to make a "Seaduck" homage, when I noticed the plane doing backflips whenever I launched it. Apparently the ship motor from the Large Boats Part Pack I had put on the hull for water propulsion was also providing thrust in the atmosphere. Lots and lots of it. So I removed all the other engines and repositioned the boat motor so the thrustline was aligned with the desired direction of flight and the C/G. It flew. Very fast. It couldn't get very high before the thrust started to peter out, but I wondered. If it can propel this pig as fast as all that, then what if I made a smaller plane? So I made a very small plane and tried again. Speeds of up to mach 2-point something. I forgot to take notes, but don't think I surpassed Mach 2.3, but not bad for a boat motor. I had even better (more controllable) results with the plank-winged bird I did next. I don't know if I achieved more speed, but I'm pretty sure I didn't achieve much less. It had more wing, but less total mass. More here, in no discernable order: http://s28.photobucket.com/user/SSgtBaloo/slideshow/1September2016
  7. Still enjoying the heck out of these engines. Did I mention I really like planes?
  8. Mom (93 this September) fell and broke her hip a couple months ago, so I've been too wound up to play much. She seems to be recovering better, now, so I've been unwinding enough to play again. When Visiting the Mun, remember that if you find two arches, there will be snacks! A VTOL plane that I can reliably land safely, about half the time. P-38 homage. I have some Allison-looking engines that I tried first, but it was a slug in the air with them. I switched to the "Kraken" engine and performance was very much improved. Bristol Beaufighter homage. Any tips on how to make it look more like its inspiration will be gratefully entertained. NOT a DC-3 homage, but fun to fly. More here: http://s28.photobucket.com/user/SSgtBaloo/slideshow/31AUG2016
  9. Life support adds complexity that a beginner might find overwhelming. If it were included, it ought to be a difficulty option, allowing increased difficulty at higher settings. The option to use the system already in place should remain.
  10. I have no idea how that managed to escape my attention for so long, especially since I knew something like that might be there. I blame advancing age.
  11. Not answering, but I don't know how else to subscribe to the thread so I'll see the answer sooner rather than later.
  12. You're watching a video of a play-through on Youtube, and start clicking on the screen to bring up information or change the camera angle before you remember that you aren't playing.
  13. He must be. I have some parts that are like that. I think they're from the Firespitter mod.
  14. Had you viewed the video I posted, you would understand that it wasn't claiming that all rotary engines were "dead", just the Wankel.
  15. I have anxiety disorders, which means that I have strong emotional reactions to things that even I consider a bit silly. Killing a kerbal without the possibility of reverting to an earlier save before s/he was killed is too stressful for me. The right way for you to enjoy your game isn't always the right way for everyone else. If I were not so afflicted, the added challenge might be fun (but it isn't, so I'll pass). To each his own.
  16. I love this mod. I didn't realize that this mod could allow a Mark 1-2 capsule to land without, of necessity, deploying the 'chutes, until I tried using Mechjeb's landing guidance to bring it in over the KSC. It took three more tries before I could successfully duplicate that feat intentionally. I do have one question: can anyone instruct me on how to model the Falcon booster? I have a general sense of how to put one together, but I may have missed something obvious. Designs that use stock parts make for a good point of departure, but ones requiring specific mods aren't unwelcome, either.
  17. Thanks, large! I've been wanting to build one of my own, but want to benchmark (steal) more design techniques before attempting one.
  18. Today I was playing around with airplanes, but occasionally, right after the physics load, instead of dropping to the ground and settling (or bouncing) on it's gear, the plane would just float there, as if gravity had been hacked. When I activated the engine, it would make all the right sounds and so on, but there would be no thrust, and it would begin to oscillate slowly, clockwise first, then counterclockwise, taking several seconds for each direction. Odd, since it only affected certain planes but not others. I suspect something has gotten thoroughly wrapped around the axles (again ), so I'm reinstalling the game (yet again ). I hope I remember how to install Stock-Sized Real Solar System correctly?
  19. The fact that these studies are being made acknowledges that it is becoming less cost-effective to ignore the problem.
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